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Post by aztecwin on Jan 27, 2013 10:47:28 GMT -8
YES!! On Wednesday, in the packin' lot, downstairs, below cell block 12, another broken down Prius was being helped by a AAA service tech with his AAA service truck...what a sad picture. The woman driver looked depressed. Um. A $40,000 price tag, only three years old, car loan balance still above $22,000, and the piece of junk is falling apart at the seams... I'll go "green" as soon as I get fly coach on an electric jet to Chicargo. TAXTAXTAXTAXTAXTAX green.autoblog.com/2009/04/21/2010-prius-starts-at-21-000-one-with-everything-costs-32-500/LOL. Another fail by the joke. Add tax and the warranty and other crap the dealers sell you and JOC's price is pretty close. I don't agree with the idea that the Prius is junk, but you have to admit it is far from green. That Toyota will be driving you around when your Chrysler and Ford are coming back from China as recycle toys, lighters and planters.
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Post by gocoaztec on Jan 28, 2013 20:20:04 GMT -8
We will eventually need to move to the use of electricity for virtually all of our energy needs, including personal transportation. We will probably have to rely on traditional energy sources for some commercial transportation needs, such as ships and aircraft. Trains are already diesel-electic and could be converted to all electric, but it would be costly to install an overhead or 3rd rail system. Long haul trucks would probably have to use fossil fuels, but that would be dependent on battery technology. All that said, the limiting factor is the production of cheap, clean an plentiful electricity. We are putting the cart before the horse by encouraging the production and sale of electric cars with federal dollars when instead we should be putting those dollars into R & D on energy production. Solar and wind have a future, but I think that we should have skipped the current generation and tried to develop the next generation, as the current equipment is not cost competitive with fossil fuels. Nuclear fusion could be the long term solution, but it may be a very long time until it can be developed. Other options include wave, tide, and geothermal. We will probably need an "all of the above" stategy, that includes clean fossil fuels, unless we hit a home run with something like fusion. This should come first, because electic cars make little sense until we have the power production capabilities. DUH. How old are you? The first electric car was introduced into the market place in 1913. It failed then, and it has been failing ever since. Yesterday about noon, in the parking lot where I work, I witnessed AAA road service attending to a Prius which had broken down. The grey haired woman was really upset. What a comical picture it was. An electric car being serviced by AAA road service... So, when do we get to fly from Orange County to Reno on a Boeing 747 that is powered by electricity and not jet fuel? When? HAM Wow, this is a tough audience for a sports forum! I kinda agreed with those who are anti electric car, but for a different reason. I think that we will eventually all be driving an electric or fossil fuel/electric hybrid. There's nothing wrong with that, so long as it's as comfortable, powerful and convenient as current gasoline powered cars, and I think that will be possible in the future. I did mention that some areas, especially commercial transportation like ships and planes, will be hard to convert to electric power (some ships use electric motors, but like trains generate the electricity with fossil fuels). Jet fuel is hard to beat for storing a lot of energy in a relatively small weight and volume of fuel. I think that the people who know me would find it amusing that someone questioned my age, or my position on the merits of the internal combustion engine. In my younger days, I used to be paid to operate a vehicle that was relatively fast and burned one gallon of fuel per second. I'm not quite ready to kick the bucket, but....to be young again!
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